Rorschach Test Findings at the Beginning of Treatment and 2 Years Later, With a 30-Year Follow-Up

Abstract

In this article, I report a case containing 2 Rorschach assessments–the first (R1) 30 years ago at the beginning of a 4-year period of psychotherapy and the second (R2) 2 years later. I also recently contacted the patient to obtain information about his life during the 26 years since termination. This report examines the 2 Rorschach protocols–combining the Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003) structural summaries with thematic content analysis–in relation to the patient's history, treatment, and 30-year outcome. I focus on the change between R1 and R2, particularly the shift from an introversive to an ambitent EB and a corresponding shift from 6 Y responses on R1 to 6 m responses on R2. In the clinical interpretation, I considered these shifts in a context of the patient's patterns of managing destabilization and overstimulation.

Notes

¹I thank Carolyn Hellreich for her careful review of the CS codes assigned to each response. I am also grateful to Philip Erdberg for recommending her to me as a consultant.